Confidence is a peculiar concept. You can take all your vitamins and work out constantly, yet unless you have at least a slight propensity for preening like a freshly bathed peacock, it won't mean diddly squat. I got extremely lucky. Despite not having a chiseled physique, and confusing frosted flakes for Flintstones chewables, I have been able to cultivate a sense of self-worth which has translated into a bit of luck in my relatively short life span. A huge part of this for me, has and always will be, writing. I adore the cruel mistress of the "perfect sentence." I lose sleep on purpose, just to free write about turtles and politicians. I'm never satisfied with my own work, yet that restlessness is essential for me to function as a working member of society. Having my own personal ocean to waste time in gives me the strength to forge ahead with interpersonal communication, rather than sitting home in the fetal position watching Golden Girl reruns on Lifetime. It has been a true gift just to be able to fancy myself as some semblance of a writer, and I feel obliged to help others reach this plateau, no matter what the odds.
This is where this week's discussion on basic writers hits home with me. I feel spoiled and slightly ashamed in some ways, for I have been extremely lucky to have (usually) awesome feedback from most of my mentors and teachers, in regards to my professional, personal, and academic musings. I haven't been beaten down, or told you can't do that, at least to the extent where it hurt. I feel there are basic writers out there, who are just as talented or more so than any damn one of us, yet because of whatever disconnect may be occurring from brain to fingers, it doesn't automatically leap out at the reader. The fact that these people can be marginalized, put down, and forgotten due to a bug in their compositional structural integrity, is a complete crock of (expletive), and needs to be rectified as best as possible. I understand writing for an audience. I understand when you compose something, you need to keep the (potential) reader in mind. However, when did we become so reliant on approval, that we had to sacrifice the basic joy of just creating something, if it didn't fit into a preconceived thought process about what a piece of writing is supposed to be? I guess, as we get closer to the almighty time of pedagogy, I am starting to be exposed as what I truly am; I am a (relatively) flaky idea guy. Some of the best conversations I can remember have transpired with people with disabilities, a fair amount of them with tossed-aside bums of the San Francisco midnight. Their ideas have been a nexus of creative ideals for me, and I have liberally lifted a great deal of their collective world outlooks, in order to be whatever goober I am now. My theory is the fact that basic writers have the same powerful, perspective-altering viewpoints just waiting to be shared. All it's going to require is somebody patient enough to open their (expletive)-ing ears, and listen.
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Hi, Justin.
ReplyDeleteYou definitely tapped into the major concern facing basic writers--their lack of confidence. And, this lack of confidence is absolutely debilitating to their writing. Often what they've faced has been this red-pen negativity from their teachers. Many of them started off enjoying writing, enjoying the creativity given them by their minds, and it never ceases to amaze me at how little it takes to shatter that--it takes a minuscule amount of criticism from someone they perceive to be their superior, and then BLAM-O. That's it. That's all she wrote. And it takes a lot of back-peddling to repair this damage. And this is one of the joys of working in the Center--giving them one person, at least one single person, to listen to their writing, to encourage them to spur on, to help them confront their insecurities.
Rock on.
mk